Shoes no more

It was lovely to see a happy and healthy horse in her stable after a fortnight's separation.  ...I think Rainbow was happy to see me too :)

Today, Tim the equine podiatrist came to take the front shoes off. Rainbow is now a shoeless horse! 

We had purposefully been growing Rainbow's hooves prior to the transition, in order for her to have the best start as well as for the podiatrist to have a decent amount of hoof horn to work with in the first trimming. 

I must say I was quite shocked at seeing R's hooves this morning, prior to the trimming, as the hooves had really overgrown the shoe in the time I had been away. But Tim assured me that this is just cosmetic and the fact that she had this set of shoes on since late April, almost 3 months and didn't loose them, means her hooves are strong and in great condition. (Horses with brittle and weak hooves are more prone to losing shoes.)

I've also been optimising Rainbow's diet to support healthy hooves for over a month now, and will intend on keeping it up. My previous post on the topic: Going shoeless... more thoughts on nutrition will explain more for those who wish to bore themselves! 

But I suppose pictures can tell so much more than words. Below a little set of pics from today. I haven't got much to comment on how R took to the new shoeless lifestyle because I didn't ride her today and she seemed quite happy. I will only lunge tomorrow which should show me more, especially when we have to walk over some different surfaces on our way to the arena. 

Basically everything will feel new to her underfoot, so we are taking this week calmly. The podiatrist recommend doing some in-hand exploration and walking around to begin to ascertain how R's feeling. Riding in a school on soft surfaces is also fine, so we will be doing our weekly schooling lesson already on Thursday. Hacking might have to be limited to roadwork within the village this week, but if she seems herself next week and isn't showing signs of soreness, I might take her out further afield, but keep to roads and grass as much as possible.

Tim also recommended to get an osteopath/chiropractor to come and have a look at Rainbow sometime, as he spotted a little bit of specific wear on one of her hind hooves which might be a sign of stiffness, etc. in another area of the body. I will try and arrange this sooner rather than later, especially as I have a bit more time to dedicate for horsiness this week :)

Front hooves two weeks ago. When I saw R's feet today they were even more overgrown, but this gives an idea.

Tim the equine podiatrist taking the shoes off

Hinds were already shoeless.

One done, one left to do...

The shoes are off! Pictured before trimming.

Rainbow's front left trimmed (that's the right-hand one in this pic), front right to do. What's impressive about this pic is that the toe clip mark wasn't even visible once the front left had been trimmed. This isn't the norm when horses go shoeless – feet can often look quite holey and frazzled at first.

Filing the dead, flaky horn off.

Bit of trimming and tidying up.

Application of Field Paste to kill off the thrush (most shod horses have thrush lurking in their hooves). Will need to apply it around once a week for about a month.

After the podiatrist had been, I decided to wash Rainbow – ideal weather for it: 30 celsius and sunshine. Shame I didn't take any pics, but I think my phone would have got a bit soaked, as did I, trying to reach high up over R's neck and head with the hosepipe...

After the shower, I stood outside R's stable and was moving the minty treats bag around in the box and was greeted by this face:

Mmmm-mum's got some mmm-minty treats!!!